Star Trek 2 boldly going...to get pushed back six months

Set your phasers on "not-stunned" - after numerous internal delays, Paramount is set to push back the release of STAR TREK 2 from June of 2012 to December. The good news? JJ Abrams looks ready to confirm that he will, indeed, return to direct the film (hardly a sure thing seeing how easily he passed off the reigns on MISSION: IMPOSSIBLE 4 to pal Brad Bird). But it's Abrams' interest in directing that looks to cause the delays.

Writer Roberto Orci told TrekMovie.com that he, Alex Kurtzman and Damon Lindelof have a 70-page treatment for the sequel but that Abrams has yet to even read it. This is likely due to the fact that Abrams has, oh, about ten thousand other projects he's working on, most notably SUPER 8, which releases next month and will be heavily leaning on Abrams to help promote.

Speculation has quickly turned to the notion that the ideas that have been bouncing around for a sequel just aren't all that great and Abrams has been putting off TREK because he wants to devote some serious time to blowing it up and starting from scratch. (This may also prove difficult as Orci, Kurtzman and Lindelof are busy in their own right.)

It may be frustrating for TREK fans to have to wait a little longer but it's this or rush a sequel into production and you wind up with something like REVENGE OF THE FALLEN...